Chapter 123: The Grandmaster of Tactical Switches

’It had to be Ming Datiss again!’

"Not quite," Delaford said, double-checking the message. "They seem to have been repelled, but they’re still blocking the south of Delusional Land. They’re also harassing the trade post and villages from time to time, so Seymour and the others had to tighten their defenses, and construction on the villages has been forced to a halt."

"The south... Looks like we’ll have to go pay them a visit," Aive said, looking at the goblin. "Do you have a specific location?"

"No, but they’ve left markers nearby. We’ll see them when we get there."

Knowing there was trouble back home, the group could no longer afford to travel at a leisurely pace. Fortunately, they had already reached a town not far from Delusional Land. Two days later, one evening, Ron and his party followed the markers left by the goblins and found the location of the bandit camp.

"They’re less like bandits and more like competitors. This place is less of a bandit camp and more of a bare-bones trade post."

Silvia looked at the wall, built over three meters high, and muttered, "Looks like that Elf is planning on playing the long game with us."

"I won’t let that happen," Ron said, looking at the wide-open main gate. "Let’s go pay them a visit."

Just as Silvia had said, the place was more like a trade post than a bandit camp. As Ron’s group walked in, a burly, bare-chested man with a large beard greeted them enthusiastically.

"Welcome to Delusional Land!" the burly man shouted, his voice raspy. "Our boss is the true Lord authorized by the City-State Alliance! Those bandits from the north stole our home!"

While speaking, the burly man pulled out a messy pile of appointment letters and legal decrees to show Ron’s group. He didn’t seem to know what any of it meant himself, however, and read from them in a jumbled, nonsensical manner.

"What kind of nonsense are you sp—" Andre was about to lash out, but Ron held him back.

"You say the ones to the north are the bandits? Do you have any proof? From what I can see, their settlement is much better developed than yours."

"We built all of that! We did!" the burly man said, waving his arms in frustration. "They stole it and made it their stronghold!"

"What’s that saying again? Oh right, a cuckoo in a bird’s nest!"

"It’s ’a cuckoo in a magpie’s nest’," Aive couldn’t help but correct him.

"Whatever kind of nest it is, it’s our nest!" The burly man said, leading Ron’s group further inside. "As for proof? I saw them consorting with a Black Dragon with my own eyes. What more proof do you need?"

"What did you say?"

Ron froze. ’A Black Dragon? Shouldn’t Aiksuuri be near Green Swamp Town? Why would he be out running around all over the place?’

"A Black Dragon!" the burly man exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "And a pack of Kobolds! So, do you still need to ask who the real bandits are?"

"If it weren’t for our friends from the West City-State Alliance helping us, we wouldn’t have even been able to get a foothold here! Come on, let me introduce you. You all came from the south, so you must know our friends from Carolina!"

The burly man pushed open a door as he spoke.

’The West City-State Alliance... Wait a minute, Carolina?!’

The moment the burly man recklessly pushed the door open, both groups—the one inside and the one outside—froze.

"Ron!" The middle-aged woman leading the group inside stood up. Her eyes, fixed on Ron and his companions, were filled with shock and panic, so much so that it suppressed even the trace of hatred she felt.

"Bakoyannis?!" Silvia was even more surprised; she never expected to run into an old acquaintance in a place like this.

"When did you get back?!"

As Bakoyannis spoke, she prepared to begin Casting, but Ron was faster. A Lightning Bolt materialized in the air and instantly shattered two load-bearing columns of the already crumbling hovel.

"Get away from here if you don’t want to die!" The burly guide frantically reached for the Hand Axe at his waist, but a blade gleaming with a bluish-green light was already at his throat.

"Whoa, okay!"

Seeing things were not going his way, the bandit didn’t resist. He smoothly dropped into a crouch and then bolted out the main gate.

Meanwhile, Bakoyannis and her subordinates had engaged Ron’s party. The ceaseless clash of blades and Magic lit up the sky above the camp as if it were day.

Bakoyannis had clearly trained hard since Ron had spared her life, but she never imagined that his group’s progress would so far outstrip her own. In less than five minutes, her subordinates and the bandits who put up a futile resistance were mown down in droves.

"St-stay back! Don’t come any closer!" Bakoyannis pressed her back against a broken wall, trying to prevent a repeat of the tragic ambush by Delaford. "If you take one more step, I’ll tear this Fireball Magic Scroll, and we’ll all die together!"

Bakoyannis held up a scroll that pulsed with red light, posturing as if she would tear it. Ron and Silvia could feel the Fire Elements in the air rapidly converging on her position.

’But threatening mutual destruction against an entire Adventurer Squad in peak condition? She’s clearly lost her nerve.’

"Command Skill: Put Down." A red light flashed in Victoria’s eyes. Countless threads materialized from the void, wrapping around Bakoyannis’s arms and hands. Faced with an irresistible force, Bakoyannis had no choice but to humiliatingly place her last bargaining chip on the ground.

"No! Spare me! Please, spare me!" Bakoyannis cried in a panic, watching Sera advance on her with a greatsword. "I was only following orders! I was just following orders!"

"Following orders? Whose orders?" Ron signaled for Sera to stand down and walked over to Bakoyannis. "What exactly did Ming Datiss promise you to make you help him like this?"

"I don’t know," Bakoyannis gasped. "Really! I’m just an errand runner. I don’t have access to that kind of information."

"But I heard there’s an Elf in the leadership. She’s very close with Ming Datiss, so she’s the one pushing for this. Besides, you wiped out one of our Death Squads and have been attacking our people all over. The leadership isn’t just going to let that go."

"So what was your purpose in being sent here?"

"The leadership thinks you’re the ones behind the Goblin Legions, so they sent me to take advantage of the opening," Bakoyannis said hurriedly. "The forces you left behind weren’t enough to stop us, but just as we were about to capture the entire trade post, a Black Dragon suddenly charged out to help them!"

"I’d originally occupied your newly built, uninhabited villages. But after that Black Dragon appeared, we started getting attacked by Kobolds every other day. There was even a giant one time!"

"As you can see, we were eventually forced to fall back to this position—and then we ran into you!"